A transgender teen took 1,400 selfies to document his transition over three years

21-year-old Jamie Raines,
three years after he started testosterone.Jamie Raines/YouTube

Jamie Raines is a 21-year-old YouTube
and Tumblr star who
is known for posting about his transition and giving advice to
other transgender men.

He started his physical transition at age 17. To document
his progress, Raines started taking a selfie a day in 2012 to see
how hormone therapy would change his body. Once he reached
1,400 photos, he decided to turn them into a short film, which
will be featured in a new documentary show for Channel 4 on
British TV called
“Girls to Men,”
first spotted by BuzzFeed UK.

Raines said in one of his videos that his earliest memory of
knowing he was male was when he was four years old. Throughout
his childhood, he cut his hair short and wore male
clothes. Puberty was an especially uncomfortable time in his
life, he said.

By the time he was 17, Raines knew he identified as transgender.

He started testosterone treatment when he was 17 and
immediately began taking selfies to document his progress.

Raines during his first YouTube video back in
2012.Jamie
Raines/Tumblr

In addition to the testosterone, Raines got surgery seven months
later, which cost
£5,925, or over $9,000. On YouTube, Raines
posts videos to fans to answer questions about
his recovery process post-operation and how his scars are
healing.

Raines and his girlfriend Shaaba.Jamie Raines/Tumblr

He told BuzzFeed
that it took him approximately two years before he started
growing facial hair, but noticed a change in his voice after a
few months. On Tumblr, Raines said he went into
testosterone treatments with no expectations, but was happy with
his results.

Raines on the day he picked up his testosterone
prescription on the left and exactly three years later on the
right.Jamie
Raines/Tumblr

“It feels like it takes
ages for things to start happening but then when it does start
everything changes really quickly. Now people are surprised when
I tell them I’m trans,”
he told BuzzFeed.